Diverse: a SWE podcast

Vidhya Thiyagarajan, FY24 SWE collegiate director and an associate scientist in chemical commercialization technology at Merck, joins us on this episode of Diverse to shine a light on the SWE collegiate experience. Interviewed by Karen Horting, CEO and executive director of SWE, Thiyagarajan reflects on starting a SWENext Club at her high school and getting involved with SWE at the University of Pittsburgh. Hear her tips for making the most of SWE during college and her advice for women and girls who are thinking about pursuing engineering.

To celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month while acknowledging that May is also Mental Health Awareness Month, the SWE Asian Connections Affinity Group shines a light on mental health stigmas in Asian cultures in this episode. Vandana Khanna, head of global digital finance transformation at Kenvue, shares her personal experiences and discusses how companies can better promote mental health awareness. Dr. Katherine Nguyen Williams, clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego and supervising psychologist at Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego, discusses the cultural nuances she has encountered in addressing mental health within the Asian community. Sarah Koenig, associate director for manufacturing cost modeling at Pratt & Whitney, a division of RTX, moderates this important conversation.

Mrinal Karvir, senior software AI engineering manager at Intel, joins us on this episode of Diverse to shed light on the different types of biases that exist in AI systems and the impacts of each one. Hear how Karvir became passionate about the field of responsible AI and her reflections on what is being done across the industry to reduce bias in this technology. You can learn more about bias and other ethical challenges within AI in the Spring 2024 issue of SWE Magazine.

In addition to her role as process development manager at Boston Scientific, Nichole Elff (she/her) is one of the fastest drag racers in the world! She joins us on this episode of Diverse to discuss her journey and share how hobbies can improve your leadership potential in the workplace. Hear how Elff got started with drag racing and modifying cars, how to integrate your hobbies into your professional brand, and her reflections on being a woman leader in the male-dominated fields of engineering and drag racing.

Wendy Cocke, founder of Engineering Leadership Solutions, shares actionable advice on how to run your engineering career like a small business, embrace flexibility, and navigate the future of work in this episode of Diverse. In conversation with FY24 SWE President Alexis McKittrick, Cocke also reflects on the impact SWE has had on her career, including a story of how several SWE members helped refine her WE Local Baltimore keynote address.

Inaas Darrat (she/her), director of chemical sector services at Trinity Consultants, joins us on this episode of Diverse to share her journey as a chemical engineer and her insights on how to make STEM fields more welcoming to all. Darrat reflects on her experiences as an Arab American woman in engineering, including common misconceptions, the positive changes she has seen over time, and ideas for listeners who want to become stronger allies. Hear how she course-corrected her career by leaving a Ph.D. program, her leadership advice for women engineers, and her own experiences of overcoming unconscious bias.

Two accomplished STEM leaders joined us live in the WE23 Diverse Podcast Studio to share emerging trends and career advancement tips in the public and private sectors. Tamika Abbott, director, office of security technology at the U.S. Department of State, discusses innovations in the security space and details her career journey in the public sector that included missions across the globe. Jackie Reeves, director of IT operations - endpoint solutions at Abbott, reflects on the latest developments in the medical technology industry and shares her experience of reentering the workforce after a career break.

Dive into the stories of Nora Stanton Blatch Barney and Elsie Eaves, two pioneering women engineers who shaped the landscape of STEM, in this episode of “Tales From the Archives,” a sub-series of Diverse. Troy Eller English (she/her), chief archivist at SWE, explores how these women defied the norms of their time and blazed the trail for the women engineers of today. She shares the career advice Eaves offered to women engineers in the 1930s and encourages present-day listeners to reflect on their own roles in shaping STEM history.

This episode is sponsored by NASCAR. Andrea Mueller, engineer with Penske Racing, and Brandon Thompson, vice president of diversity and inclusion at NASCAR, joined us on this episode of Diverse to discuss how NASCAR is fostering diversity in motorsports. Interviewed by Larry Guthrie, director of content strategy at SWE, Mueller reflects on her career journey and details how she pivoted from aerospace engineering to racing engineering. Thompson shares about NASCAR’s efforts to develop pathways for the next generation of STEM professionals, including an innovative new fellowship program.

Women and people of color have often been hidden figures in STEM, with their important contributions going unrecognized. In honor of Women’s History Month, Karen Horting, CEO and executive director of SWE, sat down with Dr. Jess Wade, physicist and faculty member at Imperial College London, who has been working to change this. Dr. Wade has created thousands of Wikipedia pages that highlight the achievements of women scientists and engineers. In this episode, she shares her own STEM journey, the inspiration behind her Wikipedia initiative and the unexpected surprises she has learned along the way. You’ll also hear her tips for listeners who want to increase the visibility of underrepresented communities in STEM fields — on Wikipedia and beyond.